


Be my eyes

by DeadGaze



Series: Isn't This Enough? [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Gameless Timeline, crime and punishment, in progress, plot dump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28825764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadGaze/pseuds/DeadGaze
Summary: The first installation in the 'Isn't this enough' series.
Relationships: Terezi Pyrope/Karkat Vantas
Series: Isn't This Enough? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116983
Kudos: 1





	1. Colors

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like this. This first part should cover a bit of these two characters adult lives some and open up the setting I have in mind with some Karezi trash. If you aren't into that then this isn't the fic for you.

It was night in Irriktatio city. Karkat was walking his way through the crowd, a smug little troll clinging to his arm swinging her cane back and forth like she needed it to sense all the things going past the two of them. He knew she had a better picture than he did at this point, but she insisted that she wanted to make it look good. The blind troll in need of assistance, to his helpful seeing eye troll. It was all supposed to be a believable cover of some description. Didn’t help his nerves, or settle the shaking feeling he got in his blood pusher. He was oblivious to her true intentions. Annoyed that she kept stabbing him with her sharp hips and boney shoulders. Terezi was trying to be cute, he was trying to be serious. It wasn’t working great for either of them. “Hey Draky. Why don’t we stop for some cotton candy?”

“Really Imelda? At a time like this?” He wasn’t really sold on this whole charade, but she had been very insistent on it for some reason. That reason was so she could work some of the feminine wiles that nepeta had been trying so hard to sell her on.

“C’mon Dodrik. Just for little ol’ me?” She flashes him the pretty eyes over her shades. That one always seems to get him for some reason.

“Ugh fine.” Couldn’t hurt to get her off his back. Especially when she uses those eyes of hers to get her way. He wasn’t sure if she knew how terrible they were to look at for him. Not in a gross way, just seeing them and knowing what happened to make them. The betrayal she felt. The disgust he had to endure in order to make things ok for her in a time when neither of them had anything left to give. The same year that Gamzee began his hunt for Karkat Vantas mutant and ex-moirail to the then fully sober Gamzee Makara that he had helped to get clean, Vriska fucking Serket had to play her little trump card on Terezi. Same fucking year. That’s like two dozen years in trauma for one fucking year. Now whenever she flashed those eyes. It was a terrible flashback in an instant to the days where you had to hold her hands and pull her up from the depths that she put herself in. Only to help her along towards the knowledge of your deepest secret. Ever since she’s been impossible to shake. She trusted him like her lusus or something, and it killed him. They’d been through too much together at this point to be thinking about stuff like what they were doing right then. The number of times they’d swapped life saves couldn’t be counted with any reasonable accuracy so he certainly trusted her with his life. But just. Everything about her set him on edge. Like every memory they had together was fresh on his thinkpan, all the death defying, all of the pain, and fear. It was all fresh on her face whenever he looked at her. He could never be at ease near her. She drove him nuts too, with all the games she played with his head to get him to talk to her. Now he was buying her cotton candy, giving in to her little trick.

So many sights, so many sounds. And all with this boy that sent her senses alight. It was perfect. She loved having him around, even if he was always a grumpy grub. She felt alive when he was close, like she was being pushed to the brink of what her senses could absorb, which, for a girl who was robbed of her ability to see, was pretty spectacular. She had pulled the grumpy grub out on a mission that he really had no need for attending to her on. Just so she could have the excuse to be on his arm for a night. Smelling the street colors of a festival that she didn’t care to attend alone. It was one thing to be able to sniff the world around her, it was another thing entirely avoiding everything that she could ‘see’ with grace and poise when her olfactory experience was nothing short of a very vibrant explosion of smells ranging from the ugly tang of sweat to the enticing spectacle of spices, and the sweet succulence of candies. Candy! That’s what he smelled like. One of the first things she ever smelled was, fresh spilled and delicious candy red. It was the best smell ever because it’s the first thing she could ‘see’ since she lost her sight, and it came from him! Of course the first time she smelled it was when Gamzee found them hiding in her tree hut. But that was just the first time she had to save his life. They were different people then. She used to be an avid larper and one of the smartest trolls on alternia. Now she was a legislacerator and the smartest girl in the galaxy. He on the other hand used to shout a lot and not really get much done. Now he was a full threshecutioner working as a sort of mercenary to help her track down and capture a heinous criminal. It was like a childhood dream realized. Not that she would admit to having dreams of him. She wasn’t overly fond of him, she just wanted him to notice her. They had a pretty good thing going professionally but she enjoyed being unprofessional. Especially with the way he didn’t shy away from her like a terrified grub the instant she showed her fangs or played a trick on him. He let her play her little games with him, and that made her happy in a way. She wasn’t sure which quadrant she wanted him in. Just one of them. He could be a pretty good palemate, giving her some of that care and attention she needed, he’d probably even make a good step in for if she ever got out of hand with one of her workmates. Hell she knew she was missing some good affection in her life. Someone to hold her, make her feel special. But Caliginous. That one was hard to admit. Hard to place after so many years spent together. She knew that Karkat just didn’t think of her like any of those. Terezi was the closest friend and confidant to Karkat. Maybe she could inch him into being a little pale for her. But she also knew that he was having trouble filling his own quadrants. The idea of it all made her head spin a little, which was odd. That’s more or less why she spent time thinking about it. To get those feelings going so she could analyze and scrutinize them. Vriska would have scolded her for being indecisive. But fuck Vriska. Bitch took away her eyes and made her life a living hell. At one time they were closer than she and Karkat were. But Karkat was there when she went blind. He almost wasn’t, she tried to play it off like everything was fine. But Karkat paid close attention to all of his friends, and they had a thing going at the time that if she met certain conditions, he would join her for a flarp session. Then Vriska had to go and mutilate her savagely with her mind powers to show she was superior. Terezi didn’t really care why at this point. She got a new and better way of sensing the world thanks to her. Just meant she had to put up with sensory overload every once in a while. Karkat was good at watching her back when she was overwhelmed. They moved in together after his lusus was murdered by Gamzee. So they learned to adapt to one another. Together they’ve managed to avoid Gamzee through some clever games of deception and no shortage of lying. But the damn clown yet still lives. Mostly because the sort of weaponry necessary to take him down is military grade and he mellowed way out when he got together with Tavros. But those were all things outside of the present. In that moment her favorite boy bought her some fucking cotton candy and it was the best thing ever! She could just get absolutely absorbed in it with him nearby to protect her. He wasn’t afraid to be a little pushy for her, especially with crowds such as this. They walked slowly, Trying to avoid getting into trouble, but still equipped with the weaponry necessary for ruining a trolls day. Her cane sword, and a clearly visible sickle for him, garishly colored and large enough bisect a torso with one clean swing. They were a very dangerous duo, but they didn’t want to draw too much attention. They were after all, undercover.

The streets were packed, Terezi still holding tightly to Karkat was trying her hardest to keep up with everything while staying out of the way. Karkat, was trying to keep up appearances and so was focusing on his expression as well as Terezi, unfortunately for both of them, neither of them accounted for other trolls having a problem with cross caste relations. Terezi was very plainly a teal blood, and Karkat could pass for a burgundy, and as part of their cover, they were quadranted. So Terezi was wearing little burgundy shocks, and Karkat was dressed in teals and blacks. Specifically a teal shirt black over coat and black pants with a teal stripe running along it. Terezi loved how he looked in it. Karkat wasn’t the most pleased by it. It felt a little more possessive than he was comfortable with. The troll that took offence happened to be a blue blood, a trait only made apparent by his garishly blue formal attire, he looked like a victorian era prince but his demeanor was not that of austerity and nobility, but of shock and repugnance. 

“A midblood with a mudblood. How utterly droll.” He spoke with a posh and mighty cadence. A real stuck up sort, probably preferred his drugs up his ass Karkat concluded. Terezi was on a similar yet less vulgar train of thought. As was typical in all honesty.

Karkat’s reply was swift and not very well thought out. But none the less sharp and colorful. “Listen nook sniffer, What me and my palemate get up to in our spare time is none of your fucking business. If I wanted advice from a nosey sweat gusher like you I’d stick a label on my forehead saying “I SPEAK DOUCHE!!” in all caps with 2 exclamation points.” Perhaps not the most elegant of ways to put it, but those words definitely left his mouth and there was no taking them back. The gentletroll for their part was left aghast for a moment, before he decided to stick this little low blooded troll in his place. He rolled up his sleeves causing Terezi to wince as she got a whiff of the sweaty grey skin underneath, she also tensed in preparation to grab her cane sword from its sheath, but Karkat was already in motion, he slipped his arm out from out of Terezi’s grip and into a scrum with the blue troll who was close to one and half times Karkat’s rather diminutive size. What Karkat lacked in overall bulk however he more than made up for in combat experience, training, shear drilled tenacity and speed. With two well placed strikes one to his side and one to his chin, the blue troll was set off balance, then with practiced ease Karkat swept the legs right out from underneath him with a spin kick. Knocking the troll on his ass. Then as he rose he pulled out his sickle and threatened to end the poor blue troll with a classic Threshecutioner technique. It took him less than 5 seconds to lay out the poor fool. Terezi was proud of him in a way, after so many years of sparring she felt like she deserved some credit for how well the crabby troll knew how to lay someone low. After all, she’d done it him so many times before. The blue troll spat out some blue blood more insulted by the display then really hurt by it. But he knew that he didn't particularly care to lose his head that evening. So he relented in his rage. Karkat seeing that the troll was conceding decided to remove the sickle from around the downed troll's throat. Sheathing it for another night rather than stepping on the troll's chest to relieve his clearly underused head from his bulbous shoulders. Karkat returned to Terezi's side, and offered her his arm, like a proper gentleman. But as they began to walk off the blue troll stood up, and decided he wanted to crush the arrogant trheshecutioner's skull in his bare hand. Only to find that as soon as he was in range to attack him, there was a blade at his throat. Terezi was not a fan of second chances. But took a long hard sniff of the now very afraid and frozen still blue blood, and decided that his blood was not worth staining her blade for. He was a weak and baser creature. Even if he had the power of stallion packed in the build of a man, and could very likely do impressive things with his thighs and a watermelon. He wasn't really worth the effort of beheading someone tonight. So she gave him a good cane drubbing instead. Left him blue all over. Even gave him a few cuts for daring to cross her twice, and worse threatening the life of her Karkles.


	2. A non trivial sort of pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Terezi wind down after the little kerfuffle they ran into.

After the little skuffle in the streets the two trolls decided to find a place where they could stay, free from prying eyes. They made a point to only ever stay in any given hotel one night each as they didn’t expect to be in town for long enough to exhaust their options. Terezi decided that it was time to poke Karkat’s brain about their target, see if he retained anything from the briefing they shared 5 days ago. “So Karkles?”

Karkat let out a long sigh, still frustrated by that pet name even after sweeps of having it jammed through his hearing ducts so many times. It was her favorite for him. It was his least favorite by far. It still felt demeaning belittling even after so many sweeps and achievements. He never really got why she preferred it over his real name. “Yes Terezi?” he breathed once the sigh had sat for a moment. 

“Who is our target?” She didn’t care to mince words when it came to business, she loved to play games and mess with his head, but this was different. Now that she had his attention it was time for them to be the deliverer of justice and the soldier. Not the friends that they’d been for so long, but professionals. Of course once business was attended to she had other plans for that evening. Completely unprofessional plans of an entirely unscrupulous and down right undignified nature. It would be devastating to her career if anyone were to find out about these devious plans. But first. Business.

“Kamrak Onvast.” Came a trained and readied response. Karkat was a disciplined man now, he knew when the pieces of the game were meant to be put aside to get down to brass tacks. No more groans or complaints, Terezi was in a small way his superior in some regards, he had been on paper at least, hired by the legislacerator to act as protection and aid in tracking down the once royally inclined sea troll turned drug trafficker. “Should we go over his profile so we’re clear on who it is we’re going after here?”

Terezi had memorized the details on their subject, everything from his cushy upbringing to his fall from grace. But she thought it prudent to rehearse the details for his inevitable prosecution by her hands. “Kamrak Onvast, 14 sweeps, was found guilty of trafficking the street drug jockle hops on an industrial scale. Evaded prosecution using an unlicensed and unsanctioned space craft supposedly using outdated helmsman tech, last sighted on Loriam 3 days ago now after his vessel crash landed on the planet’s surface. His crimes are numbered in the dozens, and he will not be permitted rest until he has been apprehended and put to justice.” She added the last little bit in a fit of passion. Not afraid to show her convictions to her sweeps long confidant.

“5 foot 11 inches, large canines that protrude from his upper and lower jaw. Violet blooded, and male. Anything else we need to discuss?” They didn’t carry any paperwork, or documentation, besides that of forged identification cards, and passports. They were meant to be undercover as intergalactic tourists. Dodrik Pangof and Imelda Rastat. Moirails. Terezi’s fabrications, brought to life by Sollux through official channels.   
Sollux had been working for some time as a freelance tech specialist with various groups that he found interesting, but never really became affiliated with. The legislacerators being a more frequent example due to Terezi asking him for favors to aid her in her endless pursuit of justice across the galaxy. A pursuit that Sollux only entertained because she had the government sanctions to permit Sollux’s activities as well as fund them to a large extent, Sollux had many individual investors from the many programs that he had created and sold, he even got some funding from the empress herself whenever Sollux took the time to send her a message and was working on something that would help the empire. But Terezi’s contract with him was steady and reliable, as the she trolls need for his services were many and in frequent use, to Sollux it was a simple matter to devote a few of his spare moments to fabricating identities and studying clues, it was a nice change of pace to all the coding that he spent his time on. 

It also helped that he and Karkat had stayed close friends over the sweeps, even taking some time to teach Karkat how to code properly. Terezi thought they were cute together, in an angry and bitter way. They looked after each other. On more than one occasion Sollux had attracted the attention of highbloods that took offence to Sollux’s talents and habits and Karkat without fail had seen to it that each of the more serious threats were put in there place and made well aware of the brutal might of threshecutioner corp. Terezi thought they would make good moirails, more than she thought of herself and Karkat. At least as far as moirails went. They had history, she knew very well how caring and protective Karkat could be, but she didn’t want him to coddle her. He’d seen her beyond her most vulnerable, and that fact scared her at first. But no longer. Now that business had been tended to in a short yet effective exchange. It was time she put her plan into action. “I have a little something for you Karkat. Something that I think you will enjoy.”

Karkat turned to her. Not sure what to expect. She was lounging on her bed, he had crawled onto his own moments after they had made it into the room, they were now settling in for the night and Karkat was confused as to why she wasn’t letting him settle down. Did she have something planned? Stupid question. This was Terezi, she always had a plan. The question was what role did he have to play in this plan. “I’m listening.” after appraising her posture he decided to give her a curious if not committed response.

“I’d like to play a little game.” She said as she moved her hand along her side, taking note of how his eyes followed her decidedly feminine curves. Deciding she liked having his eyes on her. She then put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a single six sided die. “Trivial pursuit to be precise.”

Karkat let out a full bellied laugh at that. “Fuck no!” He said cackling. “You always cheat at that game.”

“I don’t cheat. I add to the game.” She whined with a pout.

“Oh come on. You know you’re not supposed to add cards to the deck, that’s not in the rules.”

“Rules shmules, aren’t you mister homebrew when we roleplay?”

“That’s not trivial fucking pursuit! You’re supposed to come up with your own stuff for roleplaying, not when it’s a licensed board game.”

“So what? You think you can’t handle the extra little challenge of having to remember all of our little adventures? Memory failing you already?”

“See. I know you’re trying to play me. But I’m bored. So fuck it. Let’s play some fucking trivial pursuit. Terezi style.” She liked the way that sounded. She also liked wiping the floor with the poor unprepared fool that was Karkat Vantas. Not that he didn’t put up a fair fight. She just knew more than him when it came to actual trivial pursuit. She put the cards into the deck as a handicap in his favor. But if he knew that it would cause him to go off on one of his patented vantas rants, and while she often found them hilarious. She didn’t have time or patience for one of those over one of her favorite games.

**Author's Note:**

> So you got through my hot garbage in one piece. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day! Feel free to leave a comment, but don't feel pressured to.


End file.
